Road Maintenance Budget Only Half Of What’s Needed Says GMB

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December 23, 2014

The government is being penny wise and pound foolish as money saved not fixing potholes leads to much more serious damage that can only be fixed at a much higher cost later says GMB, the union for highway maintenance workers, commenting on the announcement by Department of Transport that £6 billion will be spent on maintaining and improving local roads in the six years between 2015 and 2021.

Tim Roache, regional secretary for the GMB Yorkshire & North Derbyshire region said, “The announced £976m per year is less than half the official estimate of the investment needed to cover the backlog of road repairs so the public should ask why the government is not doing more. In any event, not all councils will benefit from this announcement. The promise of future money may or may not materialise under the next government.

Meanwhile existing potholes will crack up when this winter bites leaving roads in an unfit and dangerous state for motorists. The government is being penny wise and pound foolish as money saved not fixing potholes leads to much more serious damage that can only be fixed at a much higher cost later. This is not sensible nor is it an isolated case of where setting out to save money actually costs more in the end. It is why George Osborne will borrow more money in five years than Labour Chancellors did in the previous 13 years”.